


Sometimes the Ending is Your Best Escape

by tomatopudding



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Drama, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Imprisonment, Introspection, M/M, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22960786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: Gellert Grindelwald did not fear Voldemort just as he did not fear death, he welcomed both with open arms.
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald
Kudos: 28





	Sometimes the Ending is Your Best Escape

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "Sometimes the ending is your best escape." Ryder - Ruins.

Gellert often wished the Albus had just killed him in their final duel, it would have been kinder than his actual fate. It wasn’t the imprisonment that really got to him, he could deal with the isolation, the solitude, being alone with his own thoughts. All of that was preferable to the days that Albus would visit. Calling them visits would be generous, they were more like  _ visitations _ . Sometimes he would just stand there and look at Gellert with this  _ look _ in those blue eyes (the same eyes that had once looked upon him with love and admiration, that had once held so much tenderness...they were chips of ice now, unknowable and unreadable). On those days Gellert could ignore him. But then there were the days when he spoke. Sometimes Albus would go on about his own life, give him updates like they were meeting for tea, like they were in any ways equal in this situation, like he had any choice. Sometimes he would talk about the things they had done together, a litany of all their accomplishments twisted into something horrible and wrong, things that once thought they both believed in, had made it their goal to uphold and support. The soft tone Albus used was too much, that tone that he remembered from more gentle and intimate times. It was too much.

At first Albus came every day, his face and voice Gellert’s only companions. But eventually they petered out until he was coming every few days, once a week, once a month. And eventually Gellert lost track of how much time passed between visits. And he found himself looking forward to them, the only thing that let him know that the outside world still existed. For all he knew it could have all gone up in a ball flame, only those visits kept him rooted in reality. And he hated Albus for it, hated that the man he had once loved, the man he had come to despise, had become such a lifeline for him. He wasn’t sure who he hated most, Albust or himself. Years passed in this way. Gellert never spoke back to Albus, he often just let the words wash over him. What good did it do him to know of current events? The stories of the boy, Riddle, were fascinating and intriguing.

“That boy will be your downfall,” Gellert had said at the height of things just to see what would happen, his voice raspy from disuse.

He saw a hint of his old friend then, just a flash in those heavily bagged and exhausted eyes.

“We’ll see.”

It was almost a thrill to see him again after the war was over, triumphant. The expression kindled a little spark in him that he hadn’t realized was still there. He held that spark close, let it be nurtured with every subsequent visit. He didn’t know if Albus could see what had been awakened in him, but the visits started becoming more frequent again. And so they stayed and time continued on.

“He’ll come for you eventually.”

Gellert doesn’t know exactly how many years it has been. It doesn’t really matter, he and Albus were both old now, neither of them the men they once were. They’ve been having conversations for some time now, nothing as one-sided as it had been once so long ago, and it has shaped they both Gellert thinks.

“He knows you used to have the wand.”

Gellert doesn’t need to ask which wand, there’s only one to which Albus could be referring.

“Let him come,” Gellert said.

Albus made a small noise, something like assent and something like a protest. It’s difficult to know how Albus feels about him now, so it really could go either way. In any case, he has felt this day coming, has seen the way Albus has gotten more tense over the past few years. He was frightened but trying not to show it, but Gellert knew him well enough to see it. Gellert could also tell that there was something more on his mind, something that he wasn’t saying. It had to have something to do with the way he kept one hand completely covered. Knowing Albus, he wouldn’t be telling any time soon. The visit was longer than usual and Gellert had the feeling when they said their goodbyes that they would not be seeing each other again. It was a sad and anticlimactic culmination of their years of being friends, lovers, enemies, reluctant companions all in equal measure. There were no teary hugs or final kisses, no declarations fueled by a lifetime of regrets. They simply said goodbye and then Albus was gone. 

When Voldemort did come, Gellert was waiting for him. He didn’t go without a fight, from what he understood Tom Riddle could use being taken down a peg. He couldn’t help but give in to the instinct to protect Albus, even if he was already gone. And the way it got him so mad only made Gellert enjoy himself even more. Gellert Grindelwald did not fear Voldemort just as he did not fear death, he welcomed both with open arms.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I haven't included the actual quote in the fic.


End file.
